Photo: Border Patrol / Courtesy
TEXAS – Border authorities rescued more than 130 migrants who were inside a truck of 18 wheels this Monday in the El Paso area.
Agents with the United States Border Patrol (USBP) discovered a total of 132 migrants inside the commercial truck in an attempt to smuggle people in the east of the city.
The incident occurred in Ysleta where agents assigned to the Anti-Smuggling Unit (ASU) received information regarding a possible case of smuggling taking place in a vacant building located near Pellicano Street.
Information provided by ASU agents in Santa Teresa also led Ysleta officers to discover another location in East El Paso that was being used as part of the smuggling scheme.
During the investigation, ASU agents in Ysleta identified a tractor-trailer involved in the possible smuggling of migrants early Monday morning.
Upon finding the truck, the authorities made a stop of the vehicle for inspection and they discovered 132 migrants within.
The group of rescued migrants included two unaccompanied children from Guatemala and 130 adults of Guatemalan, Honduran, Mexican and Ecuadorian origin.
The group of migrants was medically examined and processed accordingly. The persons subject to Title 42 were expelled to Mexico. Others were transported to the Centralized Processing Center while the driver and passenger of the tractor-trailer will face charges under title 8 USC 1234, for conspiracy to transport.
“Human traffickers continue to disregard the health and safety of the people they exploit for profit,” he said the chief of the Border Patrol of the El Paso sector, Gloria I. Chavez.
“These dangerous smuggling tactics endanger the lives of migrants and expose the ruthless and careless methods used by transnational criminal organizations to carry out their illicit activities. I am extremely grateful and proud that the Santa Teresa and Ysleta Anti-Smuggling Units work together, which led to Ysleta Station Agents safely rescuing 132 migrants”.
This incident remains under investigation.